Does Your HR Interview Make a Good Impression?

As a practicing HR professional I always felt it was important to be involved in the interview process. After all Human Resources is the owner of the hiring process and somebody needs to make sure we are in compliance.  I remember learning behavioral interviewing techniques and even became a certified instructor.  The key to success is to make sure you get the candidate to relate real experiences and to articulate the situation, task, action, and result (STAR).

After leaving the corporate HR world, I spent a few years consulting, and before starting The Newman Group, I went on a few interviews. One opportunity was for a Sr. Program Manager position with a Fortune 100 company with a major league brand.  The round one interview was with the HR Rep so I knew what to expect, or so I thought.

I never imagined how bad it would be. He started out with some bullshit questions to validate information that was clearly stated on my resume. Then fumbling through the interview guide, he read a series of questions that started out with “can you tell me about a time when you…..”  It was evident that he was not really understanding anything I said because he was so focussed on making sure he had the STAR.

After the third STAR I felt like saying, “dude, really? Can’t you just tell be about the benefits?” It made me wonder if I was this bad when I was in his shoes.

I have nothing against behavioral interviewing, I actually think it is a pretty good methodology for making a selection. But this was a complete waste of time and left me with the impression that this company is so bureaucratic, I would likely die there.

If you have HR people on the front line of interviewing, you had better make sure they can pull it off.  If not, you should have them stick to the benefits overview.